One would expect a thoughtful discussion from a person associated with an agency called Thoughtform and with Steve Frank, a Principle with the firm and Director of Business Development, that’s exactly what ensued. Steve approaches every opportunity with a contemplative and curious comportment. This has helped build Thoughtform into one of the leading design consultancies here or anywhere as they help simplify the complex for a diverse range of clients.

Our conversation covers a wide arc of subjects: what entails beauty in the design process and the integral role it plays, how he defines and moves forward from both failures and successes, what industry he would disrupt, the ebb and flow in the importance of titles for individuals and if there is anyway to rid the world of both timesheets and powerpoint.

A graduate of Lehigh University with a background steeped in Wall Street, the entrepreneurial sector, technology and sales, he has always brought an up-beat and fun approach to the work with everyone he intersects. Check out the great work Thoughtform does at http://thoughtformdesign.com/

The mission behind Pressley Ridge is to “do whatever it takes to create success for children and their families” and is an apt description for their CEO, Susanne Cole as well. She has done whatever it takes throughout her life, particularly in her nearly 30-year career with Pressley Ridge where she has held a multitude of positions both on the clinical and business sides of the organization. She traces a remarkable story that begins in Charleston, WV as the adopted daughter of a teacher and shoe store manager who was interested in both teaching and law enforcement as career paths and has culminated so far in her leading one of the most innovative children’s non-profits in the country.

Susanne talks about the challenges of secondary trauma, her insistence on goodness being employed versus simply talking about it, the future state of the non-profit world and whether that label hurts or helps when intersecting in the marketplace, how poverty continues to be the root cause of most of what her group has to deal with and why cussing now and then is pretty important.

Brett Yasko once opened up a talk he gave for a local Pecha Kucha event with the words “welcome to my nightmare”. Yes, he’s not terribly fond of talking about himself – preferring to let his prodigious body of work mostly speak for him. Still, on those occasions when he does open up about his life and work you quickly learn how much he truly, madly, deeply, loves both. Brett talks about his path from advertising to design, the challenges and opportunities he experienced with the transition from going to work to working from home, how parenthood and politics have influenced his work, that his self-initiated projects have been some of the most fulfilling and why he prefers to set his name – when he does – in 6.5 point type. He’s a generous, stubborn and empathetically driven designer whose nationally acclaimed body of work can be viewed at http://brettyasko.com/

Mila Sanina was born in the Soviet Union, raised in Kazakhstan, and speaks four languages. Brian wisely chooses English to discuss Mila’s amazing journalistic journey that took her from CNN to PBS to Pittsburgh where she now leads PublicSource, an investigative locally focused news organization. She shares her timely observations about the American experience and the perfect storm that has hit journalism. To see the good work Public Source does, go to http://publicsource.org/